


Summer Camp

by cavendished (noodlevampire), sofireous



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Camping, Eventual Smut, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-07-27 13:22:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16219925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noodlevampire/pseuds/cavendished, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sofireous/pseuds/sofireous
Summary: It’s spring break after the events of the anime, and Chariot and Croix take the 7 girls on a camping trip, no magic or technology, and have some fun and maybe some gay experiences.





	1. Chapter 1

“A-Akko, did you really need to pack this much for just four days?” Diana said, having just barely dodged out of the way of Akko’s enormous backpack as it swung around on Akko’s animated body.

  
“Well, yeah!” she replied, nearly taking out Lotte when she spun to face Diana. “I gotta be prepared for anything!”

  
“You’re going to regret it on the hike to the campground.”

  
“Will not!”

  
“Uuuuughhhh! Are we ready to leave yet? I’m getting bored just standin’ here...” groaned Amanda, who was leaning against the ranger station reception desk, her backpack lazily swung over one shoulder.

  
“I’m not sure,” Lotte piped up from behind her hands, held up to protect herself from the destructive path... “Professor Chariot is still handling things with the rangers…”

  
The seven of the new nine, Akko, Diana, Lotte, Sucy, Amanda, Jasminka, and Constance, adorned in casual, worn-in shirts and sneakers were all waiting impatiently in the lobby. Chariot had booked a trip to a campground near a small town bordering the Caledonian forest, where they planned on spending four nights. All of them had a pack with them, varying in size from Amanda’s deflated jansport bag to Akko’s walking safety hazard.

  
The girls were to be chaperoned by Croix and Chariot, the latter of which had worked as a camp counselor for several years before becoming a professor at Luna Nova. The former of which, Croix, had been recently released on probation under the conditions of limited magic and technology use.

  
It had been Chariot’s idea to plan a little retreat with the girls on their spring break, both on account of the terms of Croix’s probation, as well as the particularly grueling final exams the students had just finished with varying success.

  
Chariot and Croix had brought along their dog, Saturday, with them too. He had worked as a therapy animal in the prison Croix was interred at, and the two had adopted him shortly after Croix’s release. He was a 6 year old mutt, although his energy didn’t always reflect his age. His medium-length coat was black with a white chest and paws, and pointed ears, resembling most closely the look of border collie, husky, and lab.

  
He was currently resting his head on Croix’s knee as she typed fervently on her laptop while sitting on the bench in the corner of the room. Her typing would pause on occasion as she stared at the screen, one hand rubbing her chin and the other patting Saturday’s head absentmindedly, causing his tail to wag lazily.

  
“Okay girls!” came Chariot’s voice as she rounded the corner with a ranger in tow, “We’re almost ready to leave! The park service has generously allowed us to store our items at the station, so please hand over your phones, brooms, wands, and all other magic and technology for safekeeping!”

  
“That _includes_ you!” Chariot said as she shut Croix’s laptop, earning an indignant “Hey!” in return.

  
“You’re not even supposed to have that,” Chariot chastised as she pulled the laptop from Croix’s reluctant hands.

  
“I can if it’s for research purposes!”

  
“We’re on vacation, you shouldn’t be researching!”

  
“Well in that case, should I give up my ankle bracelet too?”

  
As the two bickered, the rest of the witches reluctantly placed their items in a box the ranger was holding.

  
Amanda grimaced and hesitated as she held her broom, and the ranger gave her an encouraging smile.

  
“They’ll be safe with me, I promise.”

  
Amanda scowled and handed the broom over, and the ranger took it and tucked it under his arm.

  
“Do mushrooms count?” asked Sucy, turning to direct her question Chariot.

  
The witch in question, currently across the room forcibly removing Croix from her self-imposed isolation and attempting to calm an over-excited Saturday, called out to Sucy distractedly.

  
“Mushrooms are fine, but no potions!” she replied, not looking up from her shushing.

  
“Darn…” Sucy muttered as she placed several bottles in the box.

  
Chariot had managed to calm Saturday down somewhat and walked over to place the laptop in the box, only to shoot a glance at Sucy.

  
“All potions.”

  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  
“This is supposed to be a getaway from school, it won’t work if we’re not in the spirit of things!” Chariot lectured in a spirited tone.

  
Sucy scowled for a second before pulling two more bottles from her jacket, filled with a dark purple liquid.

  
“Don’t open these unless you want to die a horrible and painful death.” she said to the ranger as she placed them in the box.

  
He chuckled, “Good one.”

  
“I wasn’t joking” Sucy said said ominously, looking at him in the eye.

  
“Uh-”

  
“Well!” Chariot interrupted, clapping her hands together. “We should get going, we have a long walk ahead of us!”

  
“You walking?” said the ranger as he placed the box on the reception desk, “It would take you all day to get there.”

  
“Well sure, nothing wrong with a little exercise,” Chariot replied, “and we have a wagon for Saturday to tow a lot of the supplies!”

  
“That’s nonsense,” said the ranger, “let me take you girls in the van, it will save you loads of time.”

  
Chariot stuttered and raised her hands, “O-oh please we couldn’t! Rick, you don’t need to trouble yourself-”

  
“It’s no trouble at all. Please, I insist. It’s hardly an hour drive to get to the campground.”

  
“Can your van fit all nine of us?” Akko butted in, eyes shining.

  
“All nine, myself, your things, and room to spare for Saturday as well,” Rick smiled.

  
“I guess we aren’t walking then!” Akko said with a smug smirk to Diana, who shoved her playfully, causing Akko to stick her tongue out at her.

  
“That settles it, let’s load up!” Rick fished some keys from his pocket and marched out the front door, not giving Chariot any time to object any further.

  
The girls scrambled to grab their bags and shuffled out the door after him, waiting at the curb while Rick brought the van around to them. He parked it but left the engine running as he helped them load their bags in the trunk. They loaded up one by one and buckled themselves in, Saturday leaping onto Chariot’s lap and causing her to yelp. Diana was the last to enter the van and sighed.

  
“I thought you said there was enough room for all of us?” she said to Rick, who was adjusting the mirror.

  
“Looks like we’re one seat short, sorry about that”

  
“You’ll have to double buckle,” said Chariot as she tried to keep Saturday from licking her mildly disgusted out face.

  
Diana glanced around and sighed, gesturing at the seat closest to her, which happened to be the one Akko was sitting in.

  
“Would it be alright with you?” she asked, not making eye contact.

  
“You sure you wanna- o-okay sure!” Akko replied, taken aback.

  
Diana stared at her, “You’ll... need to unbuckle yourself first.”

  
“Oh! R-right!” She exclaimed and fumbled with the latch. Once it was free Diana sat herself daintily on Akko’s lap and pulled the seatbelt over herself, handing it to Akko behind her for her to latch. It took a second for Akko to realize what Diana was doing and took the buckle from her, sliding it into place with a click.

  
“Everyone strapped in?” Rick exclaimed, looking over his shoulder. After a chorus of “yes”s that varied in enthusiasm, he put the shift into gear and took off.

 

It was at the first kick of the engine and Diana’s comfortable weight on top of her that Akko knew she was in trouble.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone settles in and has a nice time swimming in the lake. Croix's just along for the ride. Akko tries to keep it in her pants.

Akko has never been more thankful in her life that she couldn’t get a boner.

 

They had hardly been on the road five minutes and she could already feel her heart-skips syncing up with the movements of the van. Diana was warm, and soft, and Akko wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around Diana’s waist and bury her face in the back of her n-

 

_Stop._

 

Akko tried to keep her mind in christian places but the stimulation coming from their contact was overwhelming.

 

_Ugh why does she have to smell so good…_

 

She smelled like fruity perfume and bug spray and sweat, which Diana still managed to make smell girly. Akko was acutely aware of every movement of Diana’s butt on her lap. The switch from pavement to a dirt road didn’t help either.

 

While Akko frothed at the mouth underneath her, Diana didn’t seem to be affected at all. She was having a conversation with the others that Akko couldn’t bring herself to participate in. She instead kept squirming to try and release some anxious anergy, bouncing her leg and picking at the worn leather seat.

 

“Akko are you okay?” Diana asked as she looked over her shoulder, apparently noticing Akko’s distress.

 

“Oh I’m fine!” She responded, a bit too quickly, “Just uh… Have to pee!”

 

“Didn’t you go at the station?”

 

“Heh… Small bladder…”

 

Diana gave her an empathetic look then turned to the front of the van, “Mr. Rick, how long is the drive?”

 

“What?” he said, turning down the radio.

 

Diana raised her voice, “I asked how long until we arrive!”

 

“Oh not long! I’d say we’ll be there in twenty minutes or so. Why? Need a bathroom break?”

 

“No not me, Akko has to go.”

 

Akko felt her face go red at the attention directed at her. “It’s no big deal! I-I can hold it.” She tried to give something resembling a reassuring smile.

 

The next twenty minutes passed excruciatingly slowly. Akko stared out the window to watch the trees turn to grass, and grow back into a wall of leaves. Blinking, she brushed Diana’s hair out of her face, resisting the urge to _smell it_ \- No. Focus on the scenery, Akko, and not the way her thighs were starting to stick to her own and-

 

The van rumbled to a shaky stop, causing its passengers to lurch forward and earning Akko a _very stimulating_ pressure against her groin as her whole body was squished against Diana’s, the seatbelt holding them in place.

 

Akko could barely register Rick announcing “Here we are!” as he parked the van and turned off the engine, unlocking the doors while everyone unbuckled their seatbelts.

 

When the van door finally opened and Diana stood up, Akko felt a mix of relief and disappointment. As they all filed out of the van and began unloading their things, Chariot approached Akko, holding up a ring of keys.

 

“Here Akko, let me unlock the bathrooms for you.”

 

“The what?” In her relief she had almost forgotten what the professor was referring to. “Oh! Right, right! Yes, uh, thank you!” To be fair she did kinda have to pee.

 

 

The campground was modest, just five two-person cabins surrounding a clearing with two picnic tables, some stand up barbeques, and a large, centrally located fire pit. Behind the cabins were two more buildings, one being the bathrooms Chariot had unlocked for their use and another Akko assumed to be used for storage, as it had no windows.

 

“Dibs on the single cabin!” Amanda shouted as Akko walked back from the bathroom, drying her hands on her shirt.

 

“I want the cabin by the trees, that one looks the spookiest.” Sucy pointed at the one in question.

 

“Oh, I want the one by the lake!” Akko exclaimed, wanting to claim her own.

 

Diana walked forward and set her pack on the ground after bringing it from the van. “I would also like the cabin by the lake.”

 

“Guess we’re roomies!” Akko smiled, making a heart with her hands, before realizing what she had done in front of her friends and pulling them away shyly. “If you’re alright with that, of course…”

 

“I believe it will be fine,” reassured Diana, smiling at Akko’s awkwardness.

 

Saturday meanwhile was bounding around the grounds, sniffing at everything within reach.

 

“Okay everyone!” Chariot announced, hauling a big bag behind her, “Make sure you didn’t forget anything in the van! Pick your cabins and your roommates and I’ll go an unlock them!”

 

The next hour or so was spent settling in. Rick had offered to help, but Chariot insisted they were fine on their own and thanked him profusely before he started up the van and headed back.

 

Each cabin was barely big enough to fit two beds, two dressers, and the space between them.  The mattresses and pillows were a cheap foam covered by a slick waterproof cover that crinkled when disturbed, and the beds were set side by side with less than a two foot gap between them.

 

“This is… modest,”  Diana wearily observed as they shuffled inside.

 

“Where will I put all my stuff…” whined Akko.

 

“It looks like there’s space under the beds, just try and keep it out of the way so we don’t trip.”

 

* * *

 

With a lot of determination and some creative thinking they finally got all of their things stored away, and returned to the clearing with the others.

 

The only one who didn’t seem busy was Croix, who was playing fetch with Saturday.

 

“You’re done unpacking already?” asked Akko, a little bewildered.

 

“Yes. Without my tech it’s pretty easy to pack light.”

 

“Really? What about food?”

 

“Chariot handled all of that, I just brought the essentials.”

 

“Oh really?” Diana interject, a wry smile on her face, “Do instant noodles count as essential?”

 

“As a matter of fact, yes. As well as a couple other things-”

 

They were interrupted by the sound of a crash and Chariot shouting something suspiciously like Croix’s name.

 

Croix smiled wearily, “I guess I should see to that,” she tossed the ball to Akko and quickly walked to the source of the yelling.

 

“Eeewww...” she said, pulling her hand away from the tawdry tennis ball to have a string of slobber stick to it.

 

Saturday had immediately switched attention to the new owner of the ball, and was dancing in place at Akko’s feet.

 

“I guess you better throw it,” Diana smiled.

 

And Akko did, accentuating it with a resounding “Eugh!”

 

The rest of their group finished their unpacking shortly thereafter, and Chariot gathered them together in the center of camp, with Croix sheepishly in tow behind her. She clapped her hands together as if clearing her mind, and placed them on her hips.

 

“Well, I guess we have a whole day have fun! What would you girls like to do?”

 

Amanda was the first to pipe up, “Isn’t there a rock wall?”

 

“Yes there is! But it is across the lake... and we don’t have time to take the kayaks out and get there and back before the sun sets.”

 

“Can we swim?” Akko asked, thinking about the beach within sight of the campground.

 

“Well of course! As long as you don’t stray too far from the shore you can swim any time. There’s life vests and pool toys and the like in the shed, I can grab them!”

 

“Then let’s do it!” Akko exclaimed, already darting back to her cabin to change.

 

“Hell yeah!” she heard Amanda hoot behind her, and soon enough they were all suited up and walking towards the water.

 

Akko was the first in the water, charging in as fast as she could only to yelp and recoil when it the water reached her waist. “It’s cold!”

 

The rest joined her, Amanda taking the dramatic route of running the length of the pier and canon balling in with a shout.

 

Diana walked in the slowest, clutching her arms and taking a deep breath before submerging another inch.

 

Akko waved her arm at her from deeper in, “Come on Diana, let’s play some volleyball!”

 

“The water is freezing!” she exclaimed back through chattering teeth. “And in this case it would be called water polo.”

 

“Oh come on, you just have to get used to it!” Akko said as she approached her.

 

“Easier said than done.” Diana replied, eyeing Akko as she dunked her head in the water to demonstrate.

 

“Here, let me help!” Akko said as she surged up and sent a spray of water flying at Diana.

 

Diana screamed, trying to dodge out of the way unsuccessfully. “Hey! That was-!”

 

Her response was cut off by another yelp as Akko splashed water at her again, laughing devilishly.

 

“You!” Diana regained control of herself and responded in kind, half leaping forward at Akko to maximize damage. Akko lept back, covering her face, and the two laughed as they splashed water back and forth in increasingly powerful waves.

 

They were interrupted by Amanda shouting, “Are you joining the game or what?” the rest of the students were standing in the waist high water, waiting for Diana and Akko to join them.

 

“We’re coming!” Akko replied, wiping wet hair out of her face as she waded over.

 

The teams were uneven, so they made Amanda’s team the smaller one, to give each team a fair advantage. After a few rounds they tried playing chicken, with Akko on Amanda’s shoulders being the most destructive matchup. Chariot had to break that one up, as Akko had almost cracked her skull on the pier. After a few hours of  organized play, the girls eventually devolved into just smacking each other with pool noodles.

 

The most memorable moment, however, was when Chariot had dunked Croix. Chariot had snuck under the water, telling the girls to “watch this, and don’t say anything”, and surged up to grab Croix’s wrists, who had been, up until that point, refusing to swim and calmly reading a book at the edge of the pier.

 

“You ruined my book!” Croix said after spluttering to the surface, holding up the wet pages.

 

“Sorry!” Chariot smiled innocently. “I didn’t mean-”

 

She was cut off as Croix launched the sodden book at her face, reinvigorating the pool noodle free-for-all.

 

The shadows grew long as the afternoon wore on, and the group, exhausted, returned to the camp, laughter on their lips.

 

There was a quick show off as they squabbled over who got to shower first, as there were only 5 stalls. But, eventually, they all returned to the picnic tables as Chariot was setting some sausages and vegetables on the barbeque to cook.

 

“Would you like to help me, Jasminka? I know you have a knack for cooking.” Chariot had asked, definitely not to cover up her own sub-par grilling skills. Immediately Jasminka brightened up from her seated position and meandered over to help Chariot prepare the food for everyone to eat.

 

Soon enough Jasminka took over in full preparatory kitchen mode, and Chariot, out of a job, instead brought some discarded ropes from the shed and began teaching the girls to tie knots.

 

Amanda seemed disinterested, “Where would we ever need to use these? I’m no sailor.”

 

“Well now this one’s important, you’ll need to learn it to rock climb tomorrow! It’s called the double 8, here,” She demonstrated deftly, already having lost Akko, who was still trying to get the starting hand position right.

 

Dinner was ready, and as soon as they untangled Akko from her ropes they all chowed down gratefully. Even Saturday, who had inhaled his meal of kibble turned to begging relentlessly. Akko couldn’t help but give into his pleas, feeding him a couple scraps under the table.

 

After dinner, they cleaned up and said their goodnights, Chariot encouraging them to sleep well as they all rubbed their eyes and walked to their cabins. They had another long day ahead of them tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BIG thanks to [ quantum ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/noodlevampire/pseuds/cavendished)for helping me edit. I would die for you.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Croix learns quickly that being nasty in front of the kids means she's gonna get roasted.
> 
> I’ve decided that in this canon Constanze is nonverbally autistic, and communicates with the others via BSL. It not her native signed language (that being GSL), so she isn’t fluent and mostly gets by fingerspelling. This works out fine since none of the others are fluent in BSL anyway, and mostly just know the alphabet and basic signs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I know this took forever, this chapter has been the death of me. I've been suffering over it for weeks and just decided to post it as is, which is why it ends a bit abruptly. Also the next chapter will start with a bit of an odd time skip, forewarning.

The rapping of knuckles on the cabin door was punctuated by the sound of Akko groaning as she covered her head with her pillow, as if ignoring Chariot’s wake up call would give her more time to sleep. After a few minutes she peered out from underneath to see Diana, already up, getting dressed for the day. The bare skin Diana’s back was facing her, and Akko blushed and quickly buried her face down in the mattress, not needing to be flustered this early in the morning. A moment later Diana shook Akko’s shoulder and announced she was leaving, but Akko only dared emerge once she she heard the cabin door close behind her.

 

Akko rushed to get ready to compensate, quickly adorning a t-shirt and shorts over her still damp swimsuit. She slipped on her flip flops as she hopped out of her cabin, nearly falling on her face tumbling down the steps outside the door.

 

The rest of the witches were already sitting at the tables as she approached, excitedly discussing the plans for that day over a breakfast of eggs and turkey bacon. Akko squeezed into the space between Sucy and Lotte, where across from them sat Chariot and Croix. Chariot was animatedly explaining the layout of the surrounding forest to a captive audience while, beside her, Croix stared into the coffee cup clasped between both her hands like a lifeline.

 

“Mm, it smells so good!” Akko exclaimed as she scooped a portion onto a plate, where it barely spent any time before it was shoveled into her mouth at flying speeds.

 

“I’m sorry it’s not going to be this fancy every morning, the eggs and bacon weren’t going to survive long without refrigeration,” Chariot responded to Akko’s enthusiasm.

 

“Food is food, as long as it’s not potatoes,” Akko took the time to stick out her tongue between bites to emphasize her point.

 

Chariot smiled at her show of disgust, “Yes, I made sure not to pack any, as I’m sure you’re all tired of them.”

 

“Thank the nine,” added Sucy.

 

“So, professor,” Lotte began, placing her finished plate on the growing pile of dirty dishes in the center of the table, “how long will it take to kayak to the rock wall... more or less?”

 

“Oh!” Chariot chuckled, startled to attention by the use of honorific. “you don’t have to refer to me as professor on this trip, just Chariot is fine! And I would say it’s about two hours or so! Maybe a bit longer if we need to take breaks.”

 

“That long?” a chorus of groans accompanied her question.

 

“It’ll be faster on the way back though! Since we’ll be going downstream.”

 

 

They quickly wrapped up their breakfast, feeding the leftovers to Saturday and washing off their dishes under the spigot by the bathrooms. Chariot had the girls make their own sandwiches for lunch, as it would be too much trouble to keep track of who wanted what meat with what condiments on what bread. Much to some of the girl’s chagrin, They were all forced to pick a fruit to go along side it for a somewhat balanced meal (except for sucy, who insisted on packing a baker’s dozen of dubiously colored forest mushrooms). A marker was passed around to label their respective lunches, and Chariot took them and packed them in a small cooler that would be strapped to her kayak.

 

With the help of the girls, the cooler, rock climbing equipment, kayak paddles, and life vests were carried to the shoreline where a row of brightly colored yellow and red kayaks were moored, held in place via chain and padlock. The supplies were distributed across three three-person kayaks, evenly dividing the nine of them. Chariot took a few moments to show them all how to properly paddle with the paddles, making them all demonstrate what they learned before she was satisfied.

 

When Chariot’s inspection came to the last person, coincidentally her girlfriend, Croix raised her arms to paddle but winced at the motion and rubbed her bicep.

 

“Are you alright?” asked Lotte, who was watching alongside the others.

 

“Oh I’m fine, just a little sore.”

 

Diana narrowed her eyes and turned her head to look at the former professor with a frown. “How are you sore? You hardly did anything yesterday.”

 

“Oh,” Croix responded conspiratorially, shooting Chariot a knowing look, “I wouldn’t say that.”

 

Diana’s expression changed to a mixture of annoyance and disgust, “...Gross.”

 

Chariot looked indignantly at Croix, hands on her hips, and quickly retorted “No, actually, you  _ didn’t _ do anything. Why are you sore?”

 

“ _ Gross! _ ”

 

Amanda snorted, and a couple of the others adopted similar expressions to Diana’s. Sucy snickered, and Croix adopted a look of pensive introversion.

 

“I don’t get it…” Akko looked around, clearly the only one bewildered. “Wait... Are they talking about-”

 

She was interrupted as Diana clamped her hands around Akko’s ears and steered her to the closest kayak, shouting “Can we get a move on!”

 

“Yes please,” Sucy monotoned as they all clambered on.

 

The person in the back position was to push the kayak into deeper water, and this responsibility fell to Akko. Sucy and Lotte sat in front of her, respectively, and once they were settled she shoved the kayak off the shore and jumped in after them.

 

“Betcha we’ll get there first!” Akko shouted, sticking her tongue out at the two other kayaks.

 

“Oh yeah?” shouted Amanda between Constanze and Jasminka, slapping one side of her paddle on the water Akko’s direction, splashing the three of them with cold, muddy lake water.

 

“Hey! No fair!” By the time Akko’s team had wiped the water from their eyes Amanda’s team had already taken off.

 

After a few seconds of fumbling with her paddle, she dug into the water with all her might and the kayak began slowly moving forward.

 

“Come on guys, help me out!” Akko shouted to Sucy and Lotte through her furious paddling. With resigned sighs, they both joined her and began moving forward through the water.

 

The problem of their paddles smacking together immediately became apparent, as they were out of sync and constantly colliding with each other. “Watch out!” Akko yelled as they steered themselves sharply into a bed of watergrass.

 

As they futily attempted to turn the kayak around, Akko caught sight of a spider alighting on the back of the kayak, near her arm. She jerked away with a loud shriek and splattered her two teammates in water.

 

“Hey! Watch where you're splashing!” Sucy snarled, using her paddle to push them from where they were Tangled in the reeds.

 

“Sorry!” Akko cried apologetically, as she figured out how propulsion worked and began turning the boat correctly from her end. As soon as they were back in open water, Akko belted out a primal yell, and began paddling like her life depended on it, while Sucy and Lotte struggled to keep up. Despite their initial disadvantage, they quickly passed the kayak with the two professors and Diana, laden with the heaviest luggage. Lotte waved, earning a wave back from the otherwise listless form of Professor Croix.

 

Soon, they caught up with the green team, Amanda being the only useful member as Jasminka sat in the front with a bag of chips and Constanze was fiddling with some unknown piece of machinery. “Come ON, guys, Kagari and crew's right there!” Amanda bellowed, and Cons raised a finger, undeterred from her work.

 

“We're right behind you,” Sucy leered, enjoying the thrill of the chase from her position in front. The tip of the red team’s kayak bumped the back of the green team's, close enough for Cons to look back and make a rude hand gesture before attaching her creation to the back of the boat and flipping a switch. The green team sped off with a spray of water, leaving the red team soaked in their wake.

 

Amanda's team had long since settled on the shoreline by the time Akko's team arrived at the beach bordering the climbing wall. Akko quickly abandoned her teammates to moor the kayak by themselves as she saw green team digging into their lunches. As Akko shifted through the cooler for the bag with her name, the professors and Diana arrived shortly behind them. The second Croix's feet hit the rough sand she rushed to Constanze and high-fived her, praising her for her utility of the motor.

 

"Why didn't I think of that?" Croix pondered to Constanze as she tinkered with her contraption with one hand and ate her sandwich with the other.

 

"Because we specifically made a no tech or magic rule!" Chariot scolded as she approached the two, "Don't encourage her!"

 

“Where did you even get this?” Chariot asked as she confiscated the contraption from a reluctant Constanze. At closer inspection, it appeared to be a simple battery-operated power drill with a long rod attached in place of the drill bit and a propeller at the opposite end.

 

Constanze frowned into her sandwich and shrugged, lifting her hands to spell S-H-E-D, then signing FIND, MAKE.

 

“This is from camp equipment?” said Chariot, surprised. She appeared to mull over the idea then sighed, offering the contraption back to Constanze.

 

Croix smirked and high fived Constanze again, “Nice!”

 

She reacted little to the return of her creation, but Akko could see a small smirk in the corner of Constanze’s mouth.

 

While the group ate their lunch and relaxed, Chariot busied herself setting up the rock climbing equipment. The rock wall was made from a natural cliff face, where one side faced the beach and curved around into the lake. At the top of the climbing section of the cliff was the anchor bolted into the rock. The rope didn’t come looped through it so Chariot had to walk the long way around to the top of the cliff with the climbing rope brought from the camp.

 

When she returned, everyone had long since finished their lunches and were enjoying themselves on the small beach.

 

“Alright, who would like to go first?” Chariot announced as she stepped into her harness.

 

“Dibs!” Amanda shouted, barrelling out of the water where she had been swimming.

 

“Have you climbed before?” asked Chariot as she handed Amanda the second harness.

 

“Yeah, I would climb every time the state fair came to my town.”

 

“Did they belay or use an ascender?”

 

“Did they... what?”

 

“Were you er... kept from falling by another person or a machine?”

 

“Oh, yeah. A little device thingy at the top of the wall that pulled the rope.”

 

“Well, here we don’t have one of those, I’ll be belaying you instead. Basically the friction of the rope in the belay device,” and she pointed at the squarish object looped through the front of her harness, “will keep you from falling.”

 

“Is it as safe?”

 

“Of course! In fact it’s safer. Would you rather trust a machine that can break or jam, or a person?”

 

Croix piped up from reading her water damaged book in the sand a few feet away, “I’d trust the machine.”

 

Constanze, who was standing nearby watching Chariot and Amanda, pointed to Croix and nodded.

 

“Don’t listen to them!” Chariot stuttered, waving them away. “It’s perfectly safe, I promise. And I bet you’ve fallen greater distances from your broom!”

 

“Um... I never fall from my broom.”

 

Akko stomped her foot impatiently, “Aw come on, get climbing already! I want to go too!”

 

“Yeah, let’s do this!” said Amanda as she put on her harness and grabbed the other end of the rope.

 

Chariot quickly helped her loop it through the front of her harness and tie it off, feeding the end of her rope through the device on her own harness.

 

With a thumbs up from Chariot, Amanda took to the wall with vigor. Hand over hand, she scaled the wall with ease and pulled herself over the top of the cliff, then standing to face while waving her arms. Akko cheered with the others, excited to try it for herself.

 

“Good job Amanda!” Chariot shouted from below, “Now you’re going to have to throw the harness down so the next person can climb!”

 

“Gotcha!” she shouted back, pulling it off and tossing it over the edge.

 

“Can I jump off here?” Amanda asked, pointing over the edge facing the water.

 

“Yes you can! The water is deep and it’s actually an official part of the rockwall site!”

 

“Fuck yeah!” without skipping a beat, Amanda took a running start and threw herself off the cliff, dabbing. She collided into the water with an impressive splash, leading the others to cheer.

 

Croix, not cheering with the others, fished a marker out of her bag, writing a big “3.5” on the back of her book and holding it up above her head.

 

“I’d like to see you do better,” Amanda scoffed at Croix’s rating as she dried herself off with a towel.

 

“I have no intention of jumping off that thing.”

 

“Wow, figures.”

 

“ _ Excuse _ me?”

 

Amanda placed her hands on her hips and shrugged, “Just that if I were a book reading nerd I probably wouldn’t jump either.”

 

“Don’t be absurd.” Croix rolled her eyes.

 

“I’m just sayin’...  _ pretty  _ embarrassing to chicken out to a teenager when you’re like... 30 or something.”

 

“Abstaining to perform such childish stunts isn’t  _ chicken _ …” Croix scowled at Amanda, a bit at a loss of words. “And I’m 29!”

 

“Uh huh,” said Amanda dismissively, using the towel to dry out some of the water in her ear. “You have fun with your… abstaining, then. Wouldn't want to make yourself more  _ sore  _ anyway.”

 

Croix spluttered, appalled, at Amanda, who returned her stare with a raised eyebrow in silent challenge. They remained like that for a few seconds before Croix closed her book and set it on the sand.

 

“Chariot.”

 

“Y-yes?” Chariot responded, caught off guard by Croix addressing her.

 

“Hand me the climbing harness.”

 

“Hey wait, it’s my turn!” said Akko, who had been watching the exchange.

 

Croix stood up and dusted the sand off of her lap, “You’ll get your turn after,” she said to Akko as she walked past her to the climbing wall.

 

“O-okay, here,” Chariot said as she handed the climbing harness over to Croix and helped her tighten the straps.

 

“How hard can this be?” Croix said as she approached the wall, rubbing her palms together and craning her neck up to the 50 foot climb above her.

 

“Just remember to climb with your eyes!” Chariot said encouragingly as she tightened the slack through the belay device.

 

“Yeah, sure,” said Croix dismissively as she began her ascent. The rest of the students had approached the rock wall to watch, intrigued by the events unfolding.

 

Chariot clicked her tongue once Croix had climbed high enough to be out of earshot, “I can’t believe this is what it takes to get her to participate…” she sighed, shaking her head.

 

“Always a pleasure to be of service,” said Amanda, her hands clasped behind her head.

 

Diana raised her eyebrows at Amanda’s comment. “You did that on purpose?”

 

“Maybe a little bit… but I also did  _ not _ appreciate that 3.5 rating.”

 

“Well, in this one instance I stand by Croix, that pose is  _ incredibly _ out of fashion.”

 

“Oh what should I do then, miss meme expert? T-Pose?”

 

Akko burst out laughing, and Amanda held out a hand for a fist bump.

 

However, their exchange was interrupted by the sound of Croix cursing as she missed a handhold and slipped off the rock, the rope going taught as it caught her fall.

 

“You’re doing great, honey!” Chariot shouted up at her girlfriend, “Feel free to sit in your harness and rest your arms!”

 

“I’ve never heard that swear before...” Akko commented, brow furrowing.

 

“I think it was italian.” replied Diana.

 

“It was most certainly italian but that doesn’t mean it’s appropriate,” Chariot frowned. “Croix! Language!”

 

“Why don’t you spend less time watching my language and more time watching me! I could have died!” Croix replied, not looking down.

 

“What is it, Merides? Scared?” Amanda shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth.

 

Refusing to respond, Croix resumed her ascent. Her progress was much slower than Amanda’s, but her dedication to climbing purely out of spite was admirable.

 

With shaking arms, Croix pulled herself over the top of the cliff and rolled over on her back, chest heaving as she caught her breath.

 

“Good job, Croix!” Chariot praised, releasing the rope to provide a polite applause.

 

“Now you gotta jump!” Amanda shouted, apparently not satisfied.

 

Croix’s hand peaked over the edge of the cliff, brandishing a poignant middle finger.

 

“Croix!!!” Chariot shouted in anger. Several of the girls snickered, including Akko, who found the exchange hilarious and definitely worth delaying her turn.

  
  
  


Akko found the wall much more of a challenge than she expected, feeling her arms burn from exertion only halfway up the climb. As per Chariot’s suggestion, Akko let the rope go taught as she sat in her harness and rested her arms. Akko made the mistake of looking down and felt her heart jump in her throat as she was overcome with a surge of adrenaline. She jerked and grasped the line, only to exacerbate her vertigo as she swayed side to side against the wall, scrambling as she lost her foothold against the cliffside.

 

Hearing her frantic whimpers, Chariot shouted some encouraging words from below. “You’re doing great Akko! Just keep looking up!”

 

Akko inhaled deeply and swallowed hard, her eyes shut tight as she tried to build up her nerve. Resuming her climb, she refused to even glance downwards and instead felt around with her feet to find the next purchase. She felt extremely grateful for the slight forwards slope on the last stretch of the wall. Finally reaching the top, she scrambled up over the edge and wasted no time pulling off her harness, tossing over the edge as waving at the others as they cheered from below.

 

“Now you gotta jump!” Amanda shouted, hands cupped over her mouth.

 

Akko turned to look at Croix, who was resting against a fallen log, her eyes closed and her arms folded behind her head.

“I’m gunna wait until everyone is up here and we can jump together!” Akko replied, turning back to the cliffside.

 

Croix cracked an eye open at Akko’s remark, “Don’t throw that ‘everyone’ around so liberally.”

 

“Oh come on! It’ll be fun!”

 

“You have an interesting concept of what constitutes as fun.”

 

“Well then, what things do you think are fun?”

 

Croix paused and furrowed her brow, appearing to really think about the question. 

 

Akko crossed her arms. "And you're not allowed to say anything nasty." she added.

 

"No comment."

**Author's Note:**

> First of what will probably be 10-13 chapters. It's my first actual publishing of any type of fiction so have mercy :,). I'll try and get out a chapter a week.
> 
> BIG thanks to [ quantum ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/noodlevampire/pseuds/cavendished) for helping me edit. I would die for you.


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